


The "I Want" Song

by HerbertBest



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: 69 (Sex Position), Beaches, Blow Jobs, Complicated Relationships, Feelings, Gift Giving, Humor, Jewelry, Long, Multi, Music, Polyamory, Polyfidelity, Porn with Feelings, Public Sex, Romance, Shopping, Slow Dancing, Valentine's Day, part of a series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 16:20:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9828947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerbertBest/pseuds/HerbertBest
Summary: On Valentine’s Day, Holly learns to balance the romantic wants and needs of Dan, Ross and Suzy, while Dan frantically combs LA for the perfect gift for Holly and takes another step forward in his relationship with Arin.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A part Theseusinthemaze‘s **Plausible Deniability Universe** \- which starts with **[The Couch of Plausible Deniability](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8866864)** and continues with [**Lipstick and Fireflies**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9127864) \- this is continuity and part of the canon, and comes after the third fic in the continuity **[Bassline Like a Migraine.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9619307)**

Holly was surrounded by love. 

She could feel Ross in front of her, curled into a ball after an especially long night working on GameOverVerse, snoozing deeply. Behind her, Dan was stirring, lazily kissing the back of her neck and cuddling up. They had plenty of room but he liked to be close, to smell and taste and feel her. 

Then he spoke, and she felt a frisson of anxiety lace her mind.

“Guess what today is?”

Oh Crap. Oh Crap. 

February 14th. Extremely close to her two-year anniversary with Dan. 

And also Valentine’s Day.

Holly wasn’t a Valentine’s person. She and Ross had very occasionally tried to be romantic on cue but it had never ever worked, so they’d spent their pre-poly days eating take-out on the bed before ‘doing the do’, as he once put it. Now she was juggling the romantic expectations of two new people, and she had no idea how to make them all happy.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, fuzz face,” she said, kissing his knuckles when they cradled her cheek. She’d completely failed to buy him a gift, but she had time. 

“Mmm.” He nuzzled her shoulder, wrapping his arm back up under hers. “Gonna get up soon and get going on some plans.”

“Okay,” she said. A good ten minutes passed. “You’re not moving.”

Dan nuzzled her shoulder. “I know,” he said. 

She kissed his forearm and glanced at the clock. It was fifteen to six, and she guessed she could take a little more sleep.

****

Two hours later, she woke up to a comfortable Ross-lump lying beside her but no Dan. Plans immediately formed in the back of her mind, and she grabbed her phone on the way to the kitchen.

Texts were flung to Suzy; how did she feel about a lunch date? They could meet at the Galleria, see a movie and go shopping after. Holly was in the middle of beating a bowl of eggs when Suzy answered her back – she was already excited, anything Holly wanted to do would be wonderful. Holly grinned and texted her back, a tiny flutter of emotion teasing her breast. 

That promise kept her warm and her toes tapping as she flitted about the kitchen, making a hearty breakfast. Apple-cinnamon pancakes, omelets with onions and red peppers (a rare delicacy around these parts, since Dan’s stomach couldn’t tolerate those vegetables), bacon (veggie for her, turkey for Ross), bakery-fresh cinnamon rolls and fruit salad mostly made of melons and sprinkled with lemonade. She was squeezing the last of the orange juice into a pitcher when Ross appeared in the doorway.

She took one look at him and burst into laughter. He was bare from his head to his sock-clad feet, and was holding a large heart-shaped chocolate box over his lap.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Holly!” he sang, squirming his hips in a circle.

Holly cackled. “What’re you up to?” she asked, tucking her hands against her hips.

He took a step forward. “Open the box! Find the secret!” he chirped, wriggling his eyebrows.

Holly rolled her eyes, meeting him in the middle of the room. Cautiously she squatted before him, and then plucked the lid off of the box. There – among the coconut bonbons and pecan clusters he’d painstakingly glued into place – sprang her husband’s erect dick.

Holly fell back onto her ankles, roaring now, tears leaking from the corner of her eyes. Eventually over her merriment, she heard Ross say. 

“Start with the one in the middle. It has a creamy center.”

***

One pretty darn good blowjob, a bit of return-the-favor- masturbation and a quick orgasm for her, a gift exchange (she’d gotten him a new pen for his tablet, and he’d finally found a good-sized chunk of amethyst perfect for her crafting table), an amazing breakfast, a shower, a tooth-brushing and a battle with her closet later, Holly returned to the kitchen to see a now-dressed Ross finishing the last of the dishes.

He pecked her forehead as he wiped his hands. “See you tomorrow, my dear,” he said grandly. “My next date is with Barry and a flash game about pooping gremlins.”

“Wait, tomorrow?” she asked, checking herself in the reflection of the window. Her dress was still as nice as it looked in the bathroom mirror, and her hat was still wreathed her currently blue-green colored hair in a halo of golden straw fetchingly. 

“Morgan and me’re camping out tonight!” he grinned. “We’re going moon gazing. And if we’re lucky, I’ll be seeing their moon by midnight.”

“Oh my God.” Was this still the man who had nearly fainted while trying to figure out how to make love to another person?

How he’d changed.

She supposed she had, too. She laughed and pecked his cheek. “Good luck.”

She meant it, too.

 

*** 

Dan had worried himself into a ball of stress by the time he’d made his fourth pass through the lovely environs of Little Tokyo. In every shop he’d been to people had been wonderful, helpful, but nothing he’d seen suited Holly. Either she already owned it or she didn’t need it. Either Ross had gotten it for her already or Dan himself had already showered her with it.

Ugh. It was almost ten – he was due for a Grump session with Arin at eleven, and he knew he’d have to hit their favorite sushi place before the lunch rush and put in a delivery order or the special meal he wanted to share with his new lover would never be delivered to the Space on time. 

He about ran to the restaurant and put in the request with the person at the front desk, then headed to the bar and ordered a cup of tea. His nerves were frazzled and he hoped a quick rest would improve things. 

To his surprised, the person who delivered his drink was very familiar.

“Helloo Dan,” Morgan said dryly, gently placing his requested tea before him in a blue china cup, adding the pot and leaving packets of honey and sugar behind.

Dan grinned at them. “Oh hey! How’re you doing?” He hadn’t seen Morgan in a couple of weeks, when they and Ross had been flirting away in the kitchen. He paused, pouring honey and sugar into his cup until it was nearly oversweet. “Wait, you work here?”

“Only since last week. I’m mostly in the kitchen, but when they’re busy I help out the wait staff. I promise not to lick your maki rolls…And that’s when the moose bit me!”

“Huh?!” Dan’s eyes flew up from the middle distance, his cup pressed to his bottom lip.

“As Holly would say, you’re stuck in there. You seem more distracted than usual. What’s up?”

He winced. “It’s Holly’s second Valentines Day with me and I can’t find the right thing for her. I mean, I see things I know she’d like all the time but not things that show how special she is…” 

Morgan tilted their head. “Dan, you’re kind of…panicking. Are you sweating?” He groaned. “Because I know you don’t sweat…”

He drained his cup and poured more. He ought to have known they’d prod him in the kidneys over this. “I just really want to make her happy.”

Morgan’s face softened. “Yes Dan. You’ll never be able to make the woman who got a tattoo for you and actually lets you touch her birds happy,” they said. Dan moaned again. “Have you tried the fabric district? She’s always there buying stuff for costumes and commissions.”

His eyes widened as he put the cup down. “Oh my God.” He moaned and rubbed his forehead and folded his fingers over his face. “Morgan. I’m the stupidest person alive.”

“Only when it comes to Holly,” Morgan said, as kindly as they could. “Now finish your tea.”

**** 

Holly found Suzy waiting for her just outside the Galleria. She had no time to react before being swept up in a hug and a hard, quick kiss.

Holly tasted the raspberry flavor of Suzy’s lipgloss as she licked the corner of her mouth and stared at her girlfriend. Suzy had brought a touch of Halloween to her Valentine’s Day – her dress was short and black, and accompanied by a pair of tall heels and a broad black hat. They looked…well, like a couple when they were dressed up like this.

“You look so pretty,” she chirped, stroking the back of Holly’s knuckles. Holly kissed her cheek.

“You’re prettier than me,” she said. “Ready to go shopping?”

“SO ready,” Suzy said, and they headed into the comfortably air-conditioned environs of the mall.

*** 

Dan’s luck turned around the minute he found himself in the fabric district. The third shop he tried was loaded over with enormous bolts of cloth. He glanced between them, trying to find the right shade and then something caught his eye.

Something that glittered.

It was a gauzy black fabric, spotted all over with tiny crystals that shimmered in the light. It was decadent, it was useful…he could see Holly dancing in a cloak made out of it….

And the twinkling reminded him of the fireflies. 

“Excuse me?” he flagged down the first helper he could find, a woman with blue hair and a pierced lip. “I want some of that fabric up there – the stuff with the little sparklers in it, if I may?.”

“Of course, how much would you like?” they asked, climbing up on a step stool to pull the bolt down. 

Dan grinned and said, “the whole thing, please.”

*** 

“So,” Suzy asked, as she and Holly dug through piles of soap and bath bombs at Glendale’s Lush store, “what does Ross have set for tonight?”

“He’s actually going to be with Morgan,” said Holly, picking up an Intergalactic bomb and sniffing it. “I’ll be with Dan.” She let go of it and picked up a Sex Bomb.

“Ohhh,” Suzy said, and Holly regretted bringing him up instantly. Suzy and Dan were still…kind of weird with each other, but had mostly settled into some semblance of friendship since Dan had gotten his tattoo and dedicated a song to Holly, cementing the relationship in the eyes of their friends. Still, Dan and Suzy’s semi-fractured friendship was a hornet’s nest Holly didn’t want to poke.

And one that Suzy apparently wanted to deal with even less than she did. Suzy bought a bottle of shampoo for Arin, two more bath bombs for an unboxing video, and bought Holly a massage bar. Holly picked up three bombs – one of them would probably be for her morning bath with Dan – and got some lip gloss. She quickly picked up a gift certificate while Suzy was busy fussing over the new bath bars, then together they headed to the other end of the mall, where the dessert cafe awaited their patronage.

“So,” Suzy said, almost skipping as she pulled Holly along, “we could totally see the new ScarJo movie before we go back to the office.” She winked at Holly as they scooted toward the hostess. “We can sit way in the back,” she teased.

Holly smirked. “Won’t someone see us?”

“Not if you moan really softly,” Suzy said, and then put on her best innocent expression. While they headed to the booth she pulled out her phone to check on two things: Ticketmaster and her inbox.

Then she typed out a text to Dan before sitting down at the table and picking up a menu. She already knew what she wanted, but there wasn’t any harm in seeing what was new. 

***

Dan’s phone buzzed just as he passed a cute cart on his way to the parked car. Backtracking, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and swiped toward Holly’s message, trying his best to avoid slapping pedestrians with the awkwardly-sized bolt of cloth.

 _Ross is going to be with Morgan tonight_ the text read. _Wanna have a real Valentine’s Day date?_

Dan responded immediately, not realizing his **Yes** was in bold allcaps until he got a selfie back from Holly. She was playfully holding her ear.

_I love it when you shout at me._

**I didn’t mean to!**

_No, I meant it!_ Another second passed. _Suzy says hi._

Dan’s nose wrinkled at the message. He and Suzy were cool – basically – but he didn’t want to think of her at the moment. **Tell her I say hi.**

_We can meet at Grumpspace. I have to edit a few episodes after Suzy and I finish up._

**Fine, I have to meet Arin in an hour to take care of some stuff. Pick you up at Ross’ office and we’ll take my car?**

_OK! Love you, Fuzz Face._

**Adore you, Pidge.**

Dan slid his phone back into his pocket as he faced the cart he’d almost slipped by. It was loaded with hand knitted items – baby blankets, hats, sweaters, shawls. Pegged with two clothespins on a thin line of cording was a crocheted owl hoodie of green and brown. It looked to be Holly’s size.

He patted his wallet confidently and approached the vendor. With any luck he’d have just enough time to hit the dollar store and the deli before going into work.

*** 

Holly’s legs were all tangled around Suzy’s curved waist, and her dress was riding up as they made out heedlessly in the back row of the movie theater. Holly gasped into Suzy’s mouth as she squeezed Holly’s breasts. The scent of her perfume – the death-shrouded funeral parlor scent she so adored – filled Holly’s lungs and she leaned back into the seat, moaning softly. 

“Shhhh,” Suzy whispered into her ear, and got a hand between them, slipping it slowly up Holly’s thigh.

*** 

Dan was halfway to the Space when he spotted it in the shop window and veered through a lane of traffic to get to it.

He stepped outside, locked the door and gulped. 

This was really going to happen. 

He’d never bought a girl something like this. Not even the one he’d hoped to marry.

This was a big step. 

But he reached out for the doorknob and took it.

*** 

Holly double-checked herself in the bathroom mirror. No trace of Suzy’s lipstick lingered on any part of her, and the funeral parlor perfume was replaced by the scent of hot water, hand soap, and the deep woods scent she preferred. She’d left Suzy grinning on the couch with a card and her Lush certificate; her girlfriend was in such a good mood she hadn’t even complained about Holly’s quick stop at Hot Topic to pick some stuff up for Dan. In fact, the hand-carved wooden owl pen Suzy had bought her rested comfortably in her pocket.

Holly checked her phone one more time, and smiled at her confirmation email. Before Dan was finished with Arin she’d swing by the box office and run back to the Space before he knew she was gone. 

Wow. This Valentine’s Day surprise thing was…almost kind of fun.

She really _was_ changing.

Holly heaved a sigh of relief and patted the info stick in her pocket before entering the office proper.

Time to get to work.

*** 

“Suuck my dick,” Arin sang to the Super Mario Brothers theme as he squashed a Goomba before Dan could get to it. “Suckmydick suck-suck-suck-suck-suck-suck-suck my dick!”

“Arin! Stop!” Dan was cackling too hard to pay attention to the game. The timer was about to run out and…

“OH! ARIN WINS!” He actually slammed the controller into the couch and flew to his feet, then tried to victory dance. It was a fairly unsuccessful mission. Sweaty and wheezing, he soon flopped onto the couch while Dan buckled in two, laughing the whole time. 

“Next time on Game Grumps,” Dan said, shoving his hair out of his face and reaching for the laptop’s off switch, “I will kick Arin’s ass, unless his terrible dancing takes him out first.”

The clock had wound all the way down, and Dan sighed in relief, still trying to calm his aching chest. That was the last episode of the day – his watch told him it was already three o’clock, which meant they’d been Grumping for four hours straight.

No wonder he was starving. It wasn’t that they hadn’t been snacking voraciously as usual as they worked – but even after having a box of crackers, two bowls of cereal and a lot of candy during the course of the session his body was screaming for nutrients. Thankfully, his ace in the hole had been preserved - a text had come in while checking a walkthrough – his special sushi meal was safe in the company fridge.

“Thank you for hanging out so long today, dude.” Arin pecked his cheek. The intimacy was still new between them but every time Arin touched him Dan’s nerves seemed to sing. “Fuck, did we work through our lunch break?”

“Yep,” Dan said. 

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Arin pushed his hair back. “I’ve been starving!”

“I happen to have a solution to that problem. Stay here,” he ordered, and then raced out of the room, down the hall and into the kitchen to grab the meal and a couple of bottles of soda. 

On the way, the sounds of the office at play teased his ears. Brian, Ross, Vernon and Barry were clustered at Matt and Ryan’s editing bay, making each other laugh, and Suzy was sacked out on the couch texting. He knew where Holly was. Like a sap, he smiled at the newly-minted wall that separated Ross’ office from the rest of the building before returning to Arin.

And Arin – in another display of the symbiosis that linked their lives – automatically knew what that tray of food meant. “Aww, Dan!” he laughed. 

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” Dan sang out. Arin grabbed the soda and sushi out of his hands, and laid the food out before them on the table. Dan simply settled by Arin, and their knees touched as they consumed the feast before them.

They played with their food once their appetites were quelled; a couple of pieces got pitched into Dan’s mouth from one end of the sofa to the other, and Arin did his walrus impression with his chopsticks once the empty containers were disposed of, to Dan’s knee-slapping delight. Dan hadn’t made a conscious move closer to his lover, but soon Arin wrapped an arm around his back and nuzzled his cheek.

The kiss that followed was as easy and sweet as could be. How it escalated into groping Arin’s dick through his harem pants, he couldn’t recall. How his jacket and teeshirt ended up on the floor beside the coffee table, he had no clue.

*** 

Blowing Arin from this angle was a new experience. It almost made Dan feel like he was dick novice all over again as he tried to reorientate his tongue against the awkward thrust of Arin’s cock. Dan stayed valiant -he lunged and coughed, and tried to get another inch down his throat without choking Arin on his own dick, but Arin sputtered and coughed no matter how Dan did or didn’t move his hips.

They’d have to do this sideways next time, for the sake of safety.

While Dan tried his damndest to be sensitive to Arin’s needs, Arin seemed to need a different motion from him – suddenly he was seized by the hips, the angle of his penetration shifting slightly; when he tugged Dan’s whole body shifted downward, and he closed his lips tight and true around Dan’s cock, leaving Dan to stare with longing at Arin’s dick while he was pleasured. 

Every moan vibrated through Dan, and the loss of coordination and the sensation of Arin fucking himself on Dan’s dick forced Dan to resort to jerking Arin off while snuggling up to the softness of his belly. There was the strangest sense of coziness this time to their interplay, and Arin was so comfortable, so warm, and he was so eager and his throat worked Dan over so thoroughly that his back arched and his body turned to gooseflesh. He bit down on his bottom lip to keep from crying out and bucked downward into Arin, letting him swallow Dan down and flick his tongue along the seam of Dan’s cock as if he were begging for more.

Once relief had loosened him into pudding, Dan took up Arin’s cock again. He opened his own mouth, licking instead of sucking the tip and head of Arin’s dick, jerking his cock as it got hotter and thicker and redder in Dan’s grip.

The only warning he got before Arin came was a moan muffled against Dan’s thigh, but Dan was ready. He counted the strands of come as Arin throbbed and groaned, and subsided.

Dan let go of Arin’s cock slowly. Then he turned around and, with a backward sweep of his hair and a wiggle of his hips, deliberately swallowed and licked his lips as Arin watched with hooded eyes.

It still wasn’t the most pleasant sensation. God, his respect for the women who’d blown him increased trifold every time he did this.

“You’re trying to kill me,” Arin moaned. He mopped his sweaty face with the back of his hand and opened his arms.

“Feeling’s mutual, man,” Dan yawned, lounging in his grip for a bit. Again he felt cosseted by Arin’s touch, safe, protected. “Uh…I know the sushi wasn’t much of a gift so…” He dug around under the cushion on his side of the couch and pulled out a small flat box, which he’d stowed away a couple of days before. Funny that he wasn’t as nervous about Arin’s reaction as he was about Holly’s – he knew how to make Arin happy, apparently in all of the ways that truly mattered to the man. There was a little less pressure with him when it came to big gestures – it was like buying him a case of soda just because he knew he liked it. Easy.

Arin took the package and unwrapped it eagerly – it was a small maquette of the Sailor Scouts. The girls stood in a line, flashing victory signs, winking up at them in perpetuity from their cardboard prison; the last piece in a series of imports that Arin had been hoping to find for awhile. Arin grinned.

“Aww.” He set it aside on the coffee table. Arin had hid Dan’s gift just where he wouldn’t look – underneath pile of controllers by the TV. It was the complete series of Space Pirate Captain Harlock on blu-ray. Dan had randomly mentioned that he wanted to watch that anime a few months ago. It was just like Arin to take the name down.

“You remembered!” Dan laughed, set it aside. “We have to watch these together later.” 

“Yeah,” Arin sighed. “When we have time.”

Time, of course, passed by easily, and Dan glanced at the clock. It was almost six, and he knew they’d both need to neaten up before meeting up with the girls.

“Um,” Dan said, sitting up. “As much as I like the way you smell…”

Arin gave him a lazy grin. “Are you complaining about my manly essence, Dan?”

“Yes, and so will Holly if I come to her all covered in your sweat.”

“Yeah, Suzy’s not too keen on your whole smelling-like-cinnamon thing either.”

“Who doesn’t like cinnamon?” Dan frowned, stretching himself out and reaching for his discarded jeans.

“She says it makes her pukey,” he said, and pulled his own teeshirt back on. Dan didn’t remark on Suzy’s queasiness, though he made a sympathetic noise as he donned the Rush teeshirt he’d been running around in all day. “Think there’s enough hot water in the bathroom to fix our situation?”

“Not here,” Dan said. “But your place is four minutes off. Do you wanna split a shower?”

Arin grinned. “Let’s go out the back.”

 

*** 

Actually, ‘sharing’ was not an option with a shower as small as Arin and Suzy’s. Dan used the downstairs bath while Arin used the upstairs, and while Arin changed into more presentable clothing Dan found himself borrowing a dress shirt from Arin’s closet. When he tucked it into his jeans and cinched his belt back up, it hung about his knees. There was something weird about being the same height as a man while also being a walking stick with hair. Hair that Dan brushed out before borrowing Arin’s toothbrush, then quickly cleaning and filling the sink and shaving with a disposable razor. His mind wandered as he patted himself dry and then shut off the light. He was all-but meditating himself into a state of calm. It would be fine. He glanced at his tattoo and remembered Holly loved him.

The ride back to the Space was short, and Suzy was exactly where Arin had left her hours ago; on the couch, browsing the internet. Dan turned from the scene they made as he bent over the arm of the couch and kissed her forehead, an odd lump in his throat dissolving as Holly rounded the corner.

“Milady,” he said, bowing as he held forth his hand.

Holly’s eyes brightened automatically. “Oh you,” she said, wrapping both her arms around his neck. He was almost strong enough to swing her around in a circle but staggered and pressed her to the wall. Holly’s face was dotted with kisses as he cuddled her. “You shaved.”

“Mmm hmm,” he pecked her nose. “Smooth for ya, baby.”

She snorted in his ear and kissed her way down his jawline before letting go.

They were holding hands when they came back to the main office space. Arin and Suzy were cuddled up together on the sofa, watching something on Suzy’s phone, and Dan’s mouth quirked up at the corner as Arin kissed the top of Suzy’s head. 

“We’re going,” Dan said, his eyes were locked on Holly’s face.

“Don’t wait up,” Holly said, staring up at Dan, walking apace to the back stairs.

For the rest of the day, they’d only have eyes for each other.

***

“Dan, when can I open my eyes again?”

“Just a little further, babe.” She let out an expectant sigh. Dan had asked her to close them ten minutes ago; she was getting awfully tired of staring into blackness while singing along to a string of popular oldies piping out of Dan’s favorite Sirius Station. 

“But where are we going?”

“Somewhere cool!” he said. She automatically smiled at his enthusiasm. “Just have to make one more left.”

She sat still as the car banked left, progressed a little further, then slowed. Slight rocking as Dan put it in park, then the sound of him opening his own door. Two seconds later she felt a rush of cool, salt-scented air as he opened hers.

She unbuckled her belt and moved to scoot out, the bag with his gifts in it clutched in her hand. “Oop, just keep ‘em closed a little longer, Pigeon.” She felt Dan’s big hand enfold hers and he led her away from the car, shutting her door. “Curb’s right in front of you – one big step.” She took it and followed him on a long concrete pathway. “There’s some stairs here,” he warned her. “Come down with me, okay?”

She counted the steps as they walked, the salty scent and a familiar roaring noise getting closer. She knew where they were, but let Dan continue on with his surprise until he told her to stop.

“Just one second,” he said. 

“Dan!” she laughed.

“SORRY ONE MORE SECOND I LOVE YOU!” he yelled. She shuffled her feet, shyly embarrassed as he ran back and forth, calling more endearments over his shoulder. 

Finally, he said, “open up!” 

Holly smiled at the surprise he’d created – a beachside picnic. On the sand – dry and far enough back from the ocean that they could feel the breeze without getting wet – he’d laid a blanket of black material, sewn with crystals, out with small rocks and thick pillar candles acting as anchors. They flickered brightly, illuminating the plastic but crystalline dishes that contained the feast Dan had set out.

He’d gone to great lengths, picking up her favorite pasta and veggie salads from their local deli. He also had bought them each a sandwich, and in the very center of the cloth sat a small chocolate-frosted cake. Holly noticed the neck of a bottle of wine peeping out of the foam cooler he’d brought with him, and two plastic glasses sitting nearby. 

Dan sheepishly smiled. “Um…one of your gifts is the rest of this cloth. There’s a whole ton of it back in the car. I was going to keep it whole but the girl I hired to wrap it stabbed the end with scissors, so I just cut it off and made it into…this.” He tugged at his own hair, met her eyes. “I love you. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

She walked into his arms, stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. “This is beautiful, thank you, I love you.” The words ran over themselves to get out of her mouth. “Where did you find something so beautiful?”

“Um…I asked Morgan,” he admitted. “And they pointed me in a direction. But they didn’t find it! That was all me.”

She pecked his cheek. “It’s gorgeous. I’ll make a cloak out of it after I finish my costume for Pax West.”

“Really?” he said, helping her sit on the sand. “I wasn’t sure you’d like it.”

“It’s perfect. Everything about it is.” She didn’t know where to start, and allowed Dan to serve her. Together they ate in silence, enjoying the sound of the ocean pounding away, the sight and company and presence of one another. 

Idle chatter about the day passed the time, later, as the plates grew emptier. She didn’t go into detail about Suzy and he didn’t go into detail about Arin, but they let each other know it was fun, that the day had been good. It was enough.

Holly told him about the grackles she’d seen in the backyard, and Dan told her about the song he was working on.

“Maybe you can figure out a ukulele part on it.” He immediately flushed. Maybe he was worried he was pushing her too hard by inviting her into the intimate realm of his songwriting.

“Maybe,” she said. She reached out and squeezed his hand.

Dan packed away the leftovers in the cooler and threw out their trash while she sliced up the cake and they had their dessert under the blinking stars. 

When the cake was gone, Dan handed Holly two packages, one large and squishy and one small box that…kind of looked suspiciously like something from a jewelry store. She in turn passed over the bag and he fished out two smaller, wrapped bundles, a card and a small box. 

She carefully untied the ribbon around her first bundle while Dan eagerly tore into his package like a kid on Christmas morning. “Holy shit! I needed this shirt!” It was a replacement for the Red Hot Chili Peppers teeshirt he’d accidentally destroyed in the dryer a couple of week ago – he hadn’t gotten any better at doing the laundry. There was also a new Rush hoodie. He cuddled them to his chest, and then kissed her before reaching for the next box.

Holly returned to her bundle and let out a soft gasp when her gift was revealed; a hand-crocheted owl hoodie made of the softest wool she’d ever touched in her life.

“Something to keep you warm,” Dan said.

“I love it,” Holly said. She automatically put it on over her head and it fit perfectly and buffered the wind away from her skin.

Dan found the box of bass strings next and smiled; he’d been playing more lately, which meant more broken strings, ones had no time to go out and replace.

They both went for their last gifts simultaneously, and both gasped when the presents were revealed; Holly opened the jewelry box and received a necklace with a small golden bird charm, a heart clutched in its claws. Carefully, she removed it from its mooring and turned it over; on the back a music staff was inscribed, and the notes to the first verse of the song he’d written her. _I woke in the dark and moved toward your light._

Dan had opened his card and two tickets had fallen out of it. He grinned when he read what it was for. “Our first concert!” She could hear the bold, the capitol letters in his voice. 

“Our first concert,” she agreed. It would be that summer. They’d be seeing Bruce Springsteen at the Staples Center. “Dan, can you help me get this on?”

He was behind her in an instant. “You’ve never seen my Dancing In the Dark dance have you?” he asked, bringing the necklace around her throat and gently, carefully clasping it into place at her throat, letting it rest in the gap between her skin and the hoodie.

“No, and I can’t wait to see it.” She scooted back. “Does it look good?”

“Incredible,” Dan said. “And the necklace isn’t bad either.”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and pulled up a radio ap, sliding the dial toward a local light rock station. He’d probably been hoping for a ballad but the tail end of ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ filled the air. 

“I wanted to make you a playlist,” he admitted, “but I ran out of time.”

“We don’t even have a song,” she pointed out.

“Not yet,” he said. Then a ballad started playing. He stood up and held out a hand. 

“Dance with me?”

**** 

Dan was a good dancer. He knew that much about himself. And slow dancing was easy, he just had to put his arms around her and rock back and forth. But this was his first time dancing with Holly, and it almost felt like the first time he’d ever tried to impress a girl with his moves.

Holly was small and precious in his arms, and her head fit into the hollow of his shoulder perfectly. They weren’t an exact match height-wise, but somehow they met and melded with a gentle grace. Dan’s left arm wrapped around her and he moved slowly, on beat to the music. 

“I haven’t heard this song in a long time.” It was a Linda Ronstadt tune that had been popular when he was ten.

“Neither have I,” she said. “I remember when Aaron Neville was really big. I was…probably three? We used to listen to his songs in kindergarten…”

Dan moaned, nuzzled her hair. He didn’t want to think about their age difference.

 _I don’t know much,:_ the song went, _but I know I love you. And that may be all I need to know._ Greeting card lyrics, but true ones.

She dipped him backward suddenly. “Dan?”

“Gah! What?”

She tapped his forehead. “You’re up here again.”

He almost giggled at her touch but held himself back. “Holly?”

‘Mmm?” she asked, nuzzling his chest.

Dan almost said _Marry me. Somehow. I don’t mean divorce Ross, I mean…_ His circular thoughts tripped him up. Instead he blurted out, “do you think 'Sink Washing My Junk' 's a good title for an NSP song?”

Holly blinked up at him and Dan turned beet red. “What?” she said.

“Never mind,” he said, tucking his red chin against her shoulder. 

The song was right after all, he decided, and they moved together through another tune.

**** 

They didn’t discuss what would happen when they got home. His head rested on her shoulder as they drove, and together they carried the cooler into the house and unpacked it. Dan smiled when he noticed the beer he’d left for Ross as a gift, still with its red ribbon, shoved in the back of the fridge where it would stay cool. That’d be a treat for tomorrow. 

He made it to the bedroom before Holly, and what he spotted lying sprawled on the bed caused him to burst out laughing.

“Oh, Ross,” he shook his head, “you fuckin’ weirdo…”

“What’s going on?” Holly had taken her owl hoodie off in the kitchen, and had lost her shoes by the time she shut the door. Dan held up his prize– it was a pair of leopard-print briefs labeled ‘to Dan, love Ross’ at the hem with a sticker. “Put them on!” she laughed.

Dan kept a completely straight face and promptly put them on his head, which just made Holly laugh even harder. Her happiness made Dan join in, until the mirth petered out and the warmth between them – innate and intense – returned once more. He slid the underwear off his head and patted the spot beside him.

Holly came to the bed, sat down beside Dan and started unbuttoning his shirt. 

Dan pulled the straps of Holly’s dress down and unclasped her bra with a flick of his fingers – his elegance wasted, as their arms and wrists bumped together. She raised an eyebrow when she noticed the looseness of Dan’s shirt, but didn’t say anything about it; she tugged the hem out and away and Dan shrugged it down his shoulders. Holly’s palm brushed along his chest and downward, reaching for his belt. Dan kicked his shoes off and slid one hand up Holly’s calf, resting one upon her bent knee. She smiled as his belt came free. He reached for his own fly, unzipped himself and shoved his pants down along with his boxer briefs. 

His sudden nudity had its effect; made her eyes dilate, made her pulse quicken. He could feel it throbbing when he leaned in for a kiss and to whisper into her ear. 

“May I unzip you?”

She scooted backwards, let him slide the tab down and push the dress down her sides, until she was free and bare to her waist. 

Dan bent forward, giving her tattoo its customary kiss, burying his face in his shoulder. He kept kissing her neck, her shoulders, while his hands stroked her belly and thighs. His hands came around her body and cupped each breast, working them gently with his open palms before thumbing the nipples. He just wanted to massage her today, wanted her to feel warm, held, loved, like he did.

Holly leaned back into Dan’s chest, giving him a chance to kiss her lips. Her nipples were being plucked now, gently, and then squeezed until she panted. She spread her thighs wider to keep from dripping all over her dress. She squirmed impatiently against him to get her dress off and her panties tugged down her legs and thrown from the side of the bed; then she was safe and warm in his arms, as naked as he was.

Dan had just one request for her – and it surprised even him. “Can you keep the necklace on?”

*** 

She kept it on. Whatever part of her felt owned by the gesture - and it was a tiny bit of her – was drowned out by Dan’s tenderness. She turned around in his grip and laced her legs around his waist. 

Holly latched onto his milky neck teeth first and when Dan moaned, his head falling back, she was encouraged to scoot lower, let go of his waist, shift positions and kiss her way down his chest and lick long stripes along his nipples. Holly could feel him stiffen between their bodies and smiled to herself, grinding in his lap, enjoying the half-hard warmth pushing up against her belly. Her palms found his stomach and stroked his silky skin, and she ran her hand down his thigh while making out with his chest.

“Baby? Pigeon,” he mumbled, “please…”

She came up off of his chest “Please what?” Holly asked innocently, teeth teasing the very edge of his nipple, and Dan groaned. 

“Do you expect me to do words while you’re playing with me like this?” 

She smiled, licked him once, “maybe?”

“Babe!” he cried out. 

“What do you want?” she teased.

“You, sitting on my face,” he said earnestly.

“Ha!” she said, poking his side, “When do you not want me sitting on your face?”

He cupped her cheek, tilted her head up until they were looking each other in the eye. “Never.” And he meant it; she knew that tone of voice. Holly kissed his cheek before pushing him onto his back and scooting around, until she was splayed open before him. It was a relief to spread herself, to put herself on display for him; the tip of his tongue was a tease that drove her to take the head of him into her mouth. 

Incompatible heights were still a bit of a problem, but she could suck the head of his cock while stroking his shaft and rubbing his balls, play with his smooth thighs and kiss his stomach. Her tongue flicked along the underside of his cock, back and forth, then over the tip and against the slit. 

While she loved him, Dan’s tongue moved trancelike through the folds and lines of her sex; he seemed unhurried as she poured forth into his mouth, down the sides of it, into his hair. His tongue poked her clit then circled it, laved and circled and circled again, while every muscle in Holly’s body went stiff and her hips jerked desperately enough to make him cup her hips and hold her still.

“Dan!” She whined. She was shaking from her knees to her head, and she was so wet, so swollen that she couldn’t stand it. Dan stopped licking to kiss at her labia, to cool her down from the needletip of agony but Holly only cried out and tried to press herself into his mouth. Two could play at that game – she took him down her throat, quick and deep, then let go of his cock completely. Dan cried out indistinctly against her thigh – then he was leaning up and forward, his lips were on her clit. She felt his tongue stroke her, then the lightest suction. She let go of his cock but held it tight in her grip as she hunched onto Dan’s face, flying apart, her whole body filling with painfully hot pleasure as she spasmed against his face, her own pressed tight to the base of his dick.

The next thing she heard was Dan’s entreaty. “Please please not in your mouth,” he said against her thigh, teeth digging lightly in. Holly gasped, sitting forward, smearing more wetness along his chin and chest as she turned around.

“Yes,” she said desperately. “Oh God now, I’m still…” she shuddered. She was still tingling and twitching as they clumsily re-arranged their limbs. 

“Ride me, Pidge?” he asked, yanking his own hair back and behind his ears. She nodded, somehow got onto her shaking knees and spread them over his hips. Dan held onto her hips as she positioned him and hastily sank down, keening softly as she stretched around the heft of him.

She couldn’t stop until he was all the way inside, until she could feel the faint throb of his heartbeat against her own sex. Until he was home.

Holly paused to adjust to it all, and Dan never rushed her, never poked, prodded or wheedled. Safe was what she felt in his embrace; safe, thrilled out of her very skull and loved beyond reason.

She looked down, saw the love in his eyes, and breathed.

*** 

Dan was in heaven. Well, one of his heavens. He’d never be able to pick a favorite between the glory of pressing his face between Holly’s legs and tasting her need or the joy of watching her pretty features twist and flush as she took Excalibur to the hilt. 

Holly leaned forward, resting her forehead against Dan’s, and he kissed her gently, rocking his hips into her downstroke, feeling the tight tug of her pussy all around him, the incredible wetness of her. She was so lush, so completely gorgeous in that moment that Dan felt tongue-tied – when he opened his eyes they settled on the necklace as it jingled between her breasts.

Dan felt another surge of love, of pride as he watched her. He kissed the top of each breast, then the necklace itself. Every part of him ached for every inch of her, for closeness, even though they were flesh to flesh, even though he was as deep inside of her as he could be. Dan jerked himself into a sitting position, wrapping his arms around Holly, letting her settle her legs around him. They locked eyes, their hips moving in unison. 

Wherever they were going, they were going together. 

 

*** 

 

Wherever Dan was taking Holly, they were going there together – at least he was trying to bring her there, his thumb running circles around her clit while he breathed into her ear.

“So close Pige. C’mon, come with me.”

Holly had never come with a man, not simultaneously like in a fairytale. But the way Dan was driving up into her, the way his thumb was moving, the naked, desperate pleading in his eyes.

Her body knew where it was being taken, and it locked down on his and started to pulse.

Distantly, she heard him calling, felt his muscles go to whipcord against her touch, heard him say her name and felt a hard, deep rush of heat as he sobbed and keened and tried to pull her even closer to him.

But Holly was gone, her mind a white, blank slate. The heat pouring through her had melded her to Dan and taken her far, far away, even as she was held safe and tight in his arms. 

 

*** 

Dan was surrounded by love. 

Somehow, she’d gotten them prone on the opposite side of the bed, where it was dry and warm – how, Dan didn’t know, he was still seeing sparks after coming so hard. His heart felt like it was melting when Holly wrapped her arms around his back and rubbed it, trying to calm him down, to get him to quit breathing so quickly. He nuzzled her flesh and sighed, stroking whatever he could reach, refusing to release her from his own full-body cuddle. 

He felt her brush his cheek and, as her fingers came away shiny-wet in the lamplight, he realized he'd been crying.

Dan laughed softly at himself. "Oh my God, I don't believe it."

"Well," Holly kissed every bit of his cheek and chin, "I think it's sweet." He moaned, glad she wasn't likely running the lyrics of Why I Cry though **her** head. "Don't be embarrassed. You do things to me too." He could tell, still feeling the heat of her body, her sweat, the slick rub of her thigh on his hip.

A long silence passed. “If I,” he swallowed, licked his lips and rested his head against her neck, “if I ever meet that dude who was being a dick to you on your first poly date, I’m going to punch him and then thank him for making my life perfect.”

She kissed his forehead. “Perfect?”

“If you hadn’t called me we wouldn’t be here like this. God, Holly.” He buried his face deeper. “I am so grateful for you. I’m so glad that I’ll never have to live my life without you. I was okay being like, this scrub single dude and I always told myself it’d be fine to be alone, because I was a whole person, but…you make my life so much better and I want you to know that.”

She was blushing when he looked up. “I love you too, fuzz face. All of those things…Me too.” 

Dan kissed her neck with deliberate tenderness. Holly’s rubbing hand was starting to slow down – she was falling asleep in his arms. He followed along, like a little lifeboat in her wake.

But not before kissing the top of each of her breasts, and the golden heart that glowed between them.

****

THE END


End file.
